In our constitutional system of checks and balances, ambition counteracts ambition. But what happens when prosecutors are the most ambitious of all? Last month, Justice Samuel Alito raised this question in the opinion that he issued on the Supreme Court’s closing day of regular business this session, in the case of Trump v. Vance. A seven-justice majority had rejected President Trump’s claims of total immunity against subpoenas from Manhattan district attorney Cy Vance, and Justice Alito—himself a former federal prosecutor—warned that his colleagues were courting constitutional disaster:
Read Full Article »There are more than 2,300 local prosecutors and district attorneys in the country. Many local prosecutors are elected, and many prosecutors have ambitions for higher elected office. . . . If a sitting President is unpopular in a particular district—and that is a common condition—targeting the President may be an alluring and effective electoral strategy.
